Massmail Update: International Travel
On Monday, March 2 the University of Illinois issued new information in a massmail about study abroad programs. Four recent developments were discussed:
All students, faculty members and staff are required to leave Italy.
New escalations of U.S. Department of State travel advisory to “Level 4, Avoid Travel” for regions of Italy have led us to suspend all academic programs in that country. In accordance with this decision and the federal direction, all students, and faculty members and staff on university business are required to depart Italy as soon as possible. This decision will impact 137 study abroad students in Italy. The full communication about this action can be found here.
All students, faculty members and staff are required to leave the Daegu region of South Korea, and encouraged to leave all sites in South Korea.
New escalations of U.S. Department of State travel advisory to “Level 4, Avoid Travel” for the Daegu region of South Korea have led us to suspend academic programs in that area. We are requiring all students, and faculty members and staff on university business in the Daegu region to leave the country as soon as possible. Additionally, we are also strongly encouraging students, faculty members and staff in any part of South Korea to depart voluntarily. These decisions will impact 15 study abroad students in South Korea. The full communication about this action can be found here.
In accordance with existing and escalating travel alerts, travel to China, Iran, Italy, and the Daegu region of South Korea on university business is being restricted.
All students, faculty members and staff are prohibited from traveling to China, Iran, Italy and the Daegu region of South Korea on university business or using university resources. This is an evolving situation; the list of countries may change rapidly.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has instructed universities to consider postponing or canceling student foreign exchange programs, and we are offering all study abroad students the opportunity to end their program early.
In response to a growing number of questions and concerns expressed by students and their families, we are offering all 852 of our study abroad participants in any location the opportunity to voluntarily end their program immediately and return to their permanent home. We are working diligently to arrange alternative methods to deliver instruction to any students who want to continue making academic progress this semester. We recognize that there can be financial and academic implications for students, and we are committed to working with them to the best of our ability to mitigate any negative impacts.
The full March 2 Massmail is available online.